This SIMPLE Creek Water Feature DIY - How to Build a natural looking Stream!

If you're looking for Help getting started on your Project Visit my Website and contact me!
tjantzer.com/landscapedesign
Pondless Waterfalls 101: • Pondless Waterfalls 101
Follow-up Video about Maintenance: • How I clean my Water F...
I made another bigger creek! Check it out here: • How to Build a Creek W...
Cost Breakdown:
$70 Liner
$30 Pump
$30 Rock
$20 Plants
$150
Supply Links:
Liner - amzn.to/2QnmlrN
Pump - amzn.to/2NHmMiC
(Amazon Affiliate links, I earn on select purchases)
Music:
Amelia by Amine Maxwell / aminemaxwell
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported - CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: bit.ly/amine-maxwell-amelia
Music promoted by Audio Library • Amelia - Amine Maxwell...
Hello my name is Travis Jantzer! I'm a vlogger from Oregon in the PNW. Online I go by TJantzer. My wife’s name is Cassie and our daughter born in spring of 2019 is named Hazel. If you watch our videos you’ll learn we love rock climbing (particularly bouldering), ultimate frisbee, road trips, diy projects, and drones. We converted a van to a camper for vanlife and take road trips when we have time. We play ultimate in the fall. Climb in the gym from fall to spring. Play Frisbee again in the spring. And play sand volleyball with our friends through the summer. I wrote a book and love writing poetry. Cassie loves watercolor painting and pencil sketching. We both enjoy cooking though she is way better at it. I started on KZbin in 2011 but did not take it seriously until 2018 and even then I was inconsistent. In 2020 my resolution is to make one video every weekend and post it by Tuesday of that week. My passion is video editing. I started doing wedding videos last year and this year got a job shooting real estate photos and video. I still consider myself an amateur, but I’m learning something new with every video.
My goals for 2020:
1 video every week
500 subscribers on KZbin (Done! I'm pushing 1000 now! : )
Subscribe to my channel to follow along. Comment below if you relate to anything you see, or have any questions.
I’ll respond to as many comments as I see!
You can find me on Instagram and Twitter with “TJantzer” and visit my website to see my writing and blog posts at TJantzer.com
Thanks for stopping by!
I’ll see you next week.
-Travis Jantzer

[@travisjantzer]

If this project interested you go check out this bigger and better one! I used all the same concepts from this video with a little extra detail :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaSXaaGtbd1jhLc

[@SILVERBILL]

Thank you

[@tonysanchez8288]

A bunch of these vids have a buried reciprocal basin that sends the water back up to the top. I haven’t seen any of that in ur vids. How does the water go back from the bottom to the top of ur fountains?

[@comoelitamelendez8467]

Oh, so I see you have a long connector(hose) that the water is pumping through to get to the top. and then you hide behind the landscape! GENIUS! I was like wondering, like, "whoa, that's a strong little pump!" at first. Awesome! We are wanting to add water features around our house for our Autistic son and he would just love this! Thank you so much! :)

[@seymourskinner2533]

I’d like to see more on the mechanics. Connecting the water, pump etc

[@travisjantzer]

I plan on making that video.. haven't got around to it yet.. soon hopefully!

[@bellaf6206]

Me too

[@pteifert]

@@travisjantzer meanwhile, I’ll start digging

[@foodiesworldUSA]

@@travisjantzer yeah please post a detail video on which pimp to buy and how to attach suction pump because I’m not sure how the water flows and so mechanics because I’m a first time home buyer and want curb appeal

[@ursixx]

Nice one ! The local birds will like it too.

[@travisjantzer]

They already do! We’ve gotten a lot of nice birds back since my wife and I started planting flowers and putting in water features :) the first night after I put the creek in this beautiful Dove took a bath in it.

[@occithecat9629]

This is great, with really important things to think about, love the way you used the wheelbarrow. Thanks

[@diannewilliams8742]

I'm trying to build a very small waterfall stream on the side of this small slope and your video is exactly perfect for what I needed

[@martinpye549]

Great job. Watching from the UK. Love the old wheelbarrow idea. Looking to do something similar, and now that wheelbarrow idea is in my head. Mine's a bit different, as I am having to build up over concrete, but the concept is now coming off your idea. Great stuff you two. Thanks.

[@travisjantzer]

thats awesome, i love hearing where my viewers are from. Best of luck on yours! I'm sure it'll look great.

[@TexasGovernor]

Brother, thank you for this. This brought me joy and saved me thousands.

[@DjJtown]

Simple is where it's at. The way you've shown can add so much to a garden because it's not overly complicated or takes up too much room & it can be incorporated with other designs easily. I can imagine the additional curb appeal this has added to your home since it's in front of the house.

[@travisjantzer]

Definitely! I'm glad you like it. Ive since replaced it with another bigger one. Even more curb appeal :)

[@Jimmyandtony]

I know it’s a little late, but I’m definitely going to try and do this. My only question is about the pump setup. So there is one pump in the pond at the bottom that runs the water back to the top? Thanks @@travisjantzer

[@Ndspenceableforlife]

Thanks Travis! Really enjoyed your video. It’s refreshing to see someone with an honest heart. Bless you and your Family

[@travisjantzer]

Thank you!

[@wgcjtc5591]

I've watched a few of your vids; I appreciate your tutorials. I am in the planning stages of putting in a Japanese Zen garden for my many bonsai and these ideas are on point. Future video in the process. Thank you for sharing.

[@timffoster]

This is an excellent way to start. I'm curious as to how it's holding up over time. Looking forward to the update videos.

[@travisjantzer]

I made a cleaning video for it this year. It held up over the winter but I got bored of it so I’ve completely redone it. Bigger and better. Video coming soon.

[@mrdilligaf1968]

That's awesome and thanks for sharing. Cheers from Australia

[@subirkrishnan]

Amazing...Love the wheel barrow concept!

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks! :)

[@avamarie6278]

You're really good at these. Thanks!

[@GerryWhite48]

Hi Travis, very inspired by your videos, Travis, they are clear, informative and with all the necessary detail. In fact you make it look easy so I'll be having a go myself soon.Thanks for posting them. (UK)

[@travisjantzer]

Gerry, Thank you! Good luck on yours. Let me know how it goes :)

[@spencerm293]

That's a great project. I Like how it looks like a naturally formed stream.

[@crackula234]

So I watched this video, and started making my creek and it turned out waaay harder than it looks. After watching like 50 videos, this is still my go-to video.

[@bradleyzanteson2571]

This is absolutely amazing! Honestly, this is the best home made water feature I’ve seen on KZbin. Keep it up!

[@Artpentry]

Thank you so much for the great video man! You've inspired me to build my own!

[@joedon1706]

Great concise presentation. More to come from you I hope!!

[@jyeellis1130]

I like the idea with the well barrow

[@GTBoyblogcom]

I really like the video... its awesome how to make it look so natural yet simple to make. Great job

[@travisjantzer]

Glad you like it!

[@steeltoeboots9591]

I did a waterfall/pond at my old house due to the small yard. But now I have lots of yard gonna give this stream a whirl yours look great👍👍👍👍

[@travisjantzer]

That’s awesome! Best of luck, I’m sure it will look great 👍🏽

[@Matt-dj3zh]

You're really good at these. Make water features your thing!

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks! I’ve already started on a big one behind my parents house so I’m gonna have more videos for sure :)

[@ilovehorses5714]

Water feature design and installations 👍

[@ilovehorses5714]

My classmate does that for a living. I took horticulture in college and he had a nursery with another classmate. I interned there. We even sold tad poles.

[@floridaboy6931]

Tight work!

[@Flybunker_events]

You have inspired me to create one, and I made it running the the greenhouse. ❤

[@misskim2058]

I was just pondering this tonight in my backyard and wasn’t even looking at yard videos, I wasn’t even talking out loud for the phone to overhear and suggest the video, didn’t even have it near me, it was charging... I’ve been trying to decide whether to make a wall fountain, independent yard fountain, or a stream, and the lines of the area would just be better to have a little stream, but I also want it quick and easy as you said, just a simple meandering run of water, and boom! There’s your video. No need to scour any more minutes, let alone hours of other videos, this is exactly what I was wanting to do. And I like your easy idea for creating the natural fluctuations of a riverbed. I’ve got some smooth logs I can just put underneath the liner to create those little variations... and the yard happens to slope in that spot already. What a plus! Always preferable to work with the natural terrain. And by the way, you have such a cute family, it’s just great to see a kid still happily drinking from the good old garden hose, enjoying yard time with mom and dad, and it’s also good to see a handsome guy who includes his very pretty wife and his adorable child front and center in the video, too. Family is so important...

[@travisjantzer]

This is a wonderful comment. I’m really glad you appreciate my video and I agree with you; family is very important! If you’re looking to tackle this project be sure to check out my channel, I have several water feature videos including a larger more in depth creek build that might be helpful :)

[@bellaf6206]

We’re about to do this in our back yard. You make it look easy. We will see. 🤞

[@travisjantzer]

Good luck! Send me a picture on instagram @travis.jantzer . I would love to see what you come up with.

[@Alainjaelani]

How peaceful your creek looks.

[@jlbf0786]

You guys done an amazing job on this.. and your little one was cute as can be

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks! Isn't she adorable?

[@intuitivelyinsync6500]

Wow this is completely awesome and so creative 🔥🔥🔥

[@travisjantzer]

Glad you like it!

[@MAD42]

thanx for the video man - good work!

[@superiorgas294]

Amazing job bro. I hope u are doing this for a living now. I'm inspired.

[@travisjantzer]

I'm not. I'm a mechanic. But i'm really enjoying making these projects for videos. I got to fly to SoCal to build one for a Subscriber this spring!

[@davidschmidt270]

Thanks Travis....this was cool...props on the wheelbarrow waterfall

[@travisjantzer]

thanks, glad you like it.

[@blacksinglemomhomesteadont6454]

It was relatively simple. I'm motivating myself to build one in my backyard. It's the digging I'm dreading. Single mom here. The area I've chosen has lots of tree roots this why I want to put something eye-catching there.

[@user-ds8tp3vm9y]

Good stuff!

[@gailwilliams1083]

Very cool 😎

[@WarringHostMakinSatanToast]

Thanks for the lesson, Travis! Blessings.

[@travisjantzer]

sure thing!

[@bamagirl4234]

You helped me more than you know! Yes I can do this ! Peace& love to yall.

[@travisjantzer]

I’m glad! Thanks for watching!

[@confunctius]

oh, a subaru forester! subscribed!

[@stubbsaquatics6080]

You are creative. Very impressive. I did mine too.

[@kyles9320]

This is such a great remodel for your yard.

[@ftswarbill]

Looks great! Cheers!

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks Bill, Cheers!

[@JobsBuilt]

You killed it man. Love it

[@travisjantzer]

thank you.

[@pinayjunglehome4737]

wow this is amazing

[@travisjantzer]

thanks

[@Weartracy]

Inspiring!!!

[@cj-sp8ed]

Love it brother man, great job!

[@travisjantzer]

Glad you like it!

[@DeriDiaz]

You're the man! Thank you this helps so much.

[@travisjantzer]

Glad it helped!

[@georgegarcia2178]

GREAT JOB CONGRATULATIONS ITS BEAUTIFUL 😍❤💖THANCK YOU.

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks!

[@minivlosminvlogs802]

Super video bro tanks for the video 💯💯

[@travisjantzer]

Glad you liked it :)

[@delvalle298]

Absolutely amazing. You are very talente my friend. Beautiful.🤠💯👍God bless you and family.

[@travisjantzer]

Thank you kindly :)

[@raymondjr.1080]

Great idea!! Nice and affordable

[@travisjantzer]

I'm always trying to make things cheap lol

[@krickette5569]

Thank you SO Much! I've been on here several times in the last few years looking for a water feature that looks like the creek where I grew up. something Natural and simple and Finally, here it is. I got my rock last fall and chose a spot in my yard for the "creek". This is the year I will build it.

[@travisjantzer]

Glad I could help! Good luck with the build :) I’ve actually just this week completely rebuilt my creek so it’s 4 times the size! There should be a video soon. Hopefully it will be helpful too.

[@coyoteserranoband]

Awesome man!! Might do this on my property!!

[@travisjantzer]

Do it!

[@coyoteserranoband]

@@travisjantzer thanks! I was gonna put my tiny house there but sold it! Checkout my vids! Much love!

[@JourneyWithUs13]

❤wanna a feature with a nice water creek would be perfect to grow my 💧 watercress, and it looks good with the relaxing 😌 sound Vibes to just read a book or just bathe I the sun watching 👀 the ❤️ gardens bloom!

[@russianarmy8976]

Thats just beatifull

[@travisjantzer]

thanks!

[@TammieBuckeye]

Wow.. thank you so much

[@travisjantzer]

You are most welcome

[@SupplyChainToday123]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks for watching!

[@dlynes]

I love your videos. thanks for posting and sharing. what liners and pumps do you recommend using today for features like this one? thank you!

[@Prowlerook]

Good man good Dad too..thanks!

[@travisjantzer]

Thank you!

[@dubyabalthazar4598]

I've always wanted a creek in my backyard

[@oradatatv]

Amazing

[@travisjantzer]

Thank you :)

[@SILVERBILL]

I’m a huge fan of water fountains and creek water way! When I have land someday I’m gonna do this! I LOVED THE WAY YOURS LOOKED!!! By chance do you do fountains? I like doing indoor fountains and porch fountains and would love any that you have done or might do in the future😉

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks! Ive made fountains of all sizes. Even some for indoors. I'm working on one right now.

[@themokuahicoconut8037]

I have watched this like 900 times

[@travisjantzer]

That’s awesome!

[@robertoler3795]

well done

[@travisjantzer]

thanks

[@sistersaison2411]

I love this 😀❤

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks! Ive since replaced it with a bigger better one.

[@taffythegreat1986]

Simple and very natural looking, that’s what you want. I love the water feature, but I think I’ll keep mine for what’s it intended for 😂😂👍👍👍

[@travisjantzer]

Whats yours intended for? lol

[@taffythegreat1986]

@@travisjantzer carrying sand and cement😂

[@MySecretJourney]

This is brillant

[@marivel034life]

Cool idea, any clips on the pump/return instal? Thanksl

[@drtek1329]

AMAZING!!!! Your thoughts on slope and breaks and overlap in water flow are intriguing.... Also your rock/pebble placement is great... Love the wheelbarrow theme. What is the orange wire at 1:48 minutes? Did you use a felt liner beneath the liner? What size pump did you use? What is the finished length of the stream water feature? I am considering doing something similar... for providing water to birds.... and , I bet! The toads and frogs would love this. Many thanks! :

[@travisjantzer]

the orange wire was a temporary power line to run it while i worked on it. I used some week cloth in some areas to pad the underside but none of those rocks were heavy enough to puncture and the ground was real soft so i wasnt worried about padding. I use padding on my bigger projects. I love the amount of birds my fountains attract. and some other wildlife as well.

[@paulakitchin3961]

I love all your videos. I have a question. How do I use water from a stream to run a water feature?

[@ATF.California]

Really nice stream/river this motivated me to start my own thanks

[@pdxcontent]

new sub here, I am planning to do a simple water feature in our front yard and want it simple and cheap. this video helped alot. We are in portland and I think you may be in medford.

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks for the sub! Yea I live in the rogue valley.

[@kalettsarti16]

Travis am a subscriber I like your and am actually want to make one my self I just would like to know more about the water works like how does the water rotate or what pumps to get etc and thanks for sharing your work it’s awesome

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks for the sub! I have lots of other videos on this topic. Maybe start with my "pondless waterfalls 101" video?

[@tylerareber]

Hey, love this video - it actually inspired me to try something similar. I'm close to being done with my stream but i'm losing water and so far can't find any leak to explain it. Curious if you have noticed any significant water loss in your stream(s) from purely evaporation, being that they're shallow and you've got water splashing up on rocks as it flows down through?

[@abdurrahmanfirat6579]

Good job

[@travisjantzer]

thanks, I tried. lol

[@juangarza1138]

thank you

[@travisjantzer]

You're welcome

[@michaelromero7219]

I would like to see more info about the pump equipment and cost.

[@tokeme01]

Good vid maaate

[@travisjantzer]

Glad you enjoyed

[@rebimpskitzo8489]

Real nice, just what I came for, and not a bunch of extra fluff.

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks! If you're looking for extra fluff I have that too. but that wasnt the point of this video. Glad it was helpful :)

[@frankypolglish]

ide like to see you building the stream

[@travisjantzer]

This latest project shows a little more creek laying. It was a much bigger project but conceptually very similar.

[@PiedmontProgressivePresc-ig1vr]

We created a creek on our playground for the children to play. It is fantastic especially at the beginning of each year when we redo it! The children of course move all the river rocks around. Wonderful play takes place within our creek. I feel like I cannot use a pump because the mud and sand that make would destroy the pump. We just use a hose and waste water. Any suggestions?

[@tomwells3217]

Started converting my 1500-2000 gallon stream and pond to a pondless water feature and decided to use existing catchall box that pumps up to the top of the stream that had a ten gallon reservoir that dumps into existing stream 20 feet down to where the 5 foot deep pond is that I am only channeling a stream to the recovery box. My question is do you have to have a place for the excess rain to go and how do you deal with keeping the pond at the proper level to keep plant life alive when gone for long vacations.

[@swathiswathi6508]

Nice lovely

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks

[@colincovill5096]

Hey, love this and we are going to do something similar, we have an old path on a natural slope, so going to use that as the stream into a small pond. What kind of pump did you use ? A submersible pump or a proper pond/waterfall pump ? As the height from top of stream above pond is bout 4ft difference. Watching and subscribed from Somerset, uk

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks! I recently remade this one even bigger and better if you want to check that video out. This one was an 800 GPH capacity submersible fountain pump. But it had only about a foot of total drop from top to bottom.

[@KickAssets]

I would love to know what pump you used and it there a solar one on amazon i can buy. I'd like to do this for my mini pond/river in Japan.

[@HeyAstor]

Jeeeeeeshh this guy is so attractive 🙌🏼😍👌🏼 subscribed!

[@triplex7144]

I'm going to suggest raise the edges of the watercourse to prevent water inflow when it rains as this will introduce nutrients. With such a shallow run you may be susceptible to algae growth.

[@INTERNA9]

Thanx

[@nicholascrawford2583]

Awesome built, curious what gph pump you used. You might have said in the video but I couldn't find it. Trying to build one soon was thinking an 8000gph?

[@kevlar1482]

Nope. 800.

[@drtek1329]

Tough to grow any type of turf under that tree... Love that you have used the wheelbarrow as containment for Water lettuce...? What is "the board" you used for rippling?

[@travisjantzer]

Just a piece to raise up the liner so it was not one continuous flow but more of a river rapid.

[@TombRaiderNum12004]

Hi, Travis! Thank you so much for this video; it's very informative. I have a question for you, if you have a moment. I want to replicate this design, but without the pond. I know I am going to need some sort of reservoir. Do you have any suggestions for how many gallons I would need for a design like this? Thank you so much.

[@travisjantzer]

the bigger the reservoir the better. water loss is inevitable with evaporation. But on a smaller feature 40-80 gallons is pretty good I think. It really depends.

[@silviaherranz3613]

Hi, looks great! I´m not sure if it´s been asked but I was wondering if you needed to plug the pump into a socket or whether it was solar powered and understand a bit more info of the mechanics of making it a reality for my front yard! Cheers!

[@travisjantzer]

Thanks! This one is plugged into an outlet but there are solar pump options out there :)

[@jleigh31879]

So our issue is looking water and the ground around it being higher, creating a bog where our trashcan must be kept. Can we simply just dig until the ground around is lower for the runoff?

[@cookingwithed]

Hello, great vidio. How deep did you dig the deepest part of you pond? Also how big is your pump and the hole you dug for that.

[@travisjantzer]

About 18 inches which is very shallow. I would recommend at least 2 feet deep. This one had an 800 gph pump.

[@travisjantzer]

Hey everyone! its been a few months so I made a video about how I Clean my water Features! Its a short video and I think it's worth watching if you're thinking about installing something like this :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJnNn4Ftr7mYmtk

[@teresagrigsby-rose8761]

What kind of pump, how far did u bury the line? What do you do with it in winter time? Im in central IN, gets freezing here. Oh, and did u bury the pump too? Thnx. Luv it

[@drglennmarshall416]

We want to know what is the slope we would require to run a 40-foot stream from the waterful at the head of the stream to the pond. Like you we want to have puddles, etc.. we don't want it to run straight to the pond. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks

[@chrisclift7921]

Great video kind of inspiring me to build one myself I was wondering what mill liner did you use or recommend?

[@travisjantzer]

the Thicker the better.. but on these small features I went with the cheapest I could find. If you're worried about punctures you can always put down a weed cloth to protect the liner :) If you make one I'd love to see it! You can send me a pic on Instagram @travis.jantzer

[@chrisclift7921]

@@travisjantzer Thanks i will

[@nomaderic]

How did you handle the power situation, I plan on building a little stream/waterfall for my small farm pond but it's like 50 feet or more away from the house lol. I dont know if I'm just gonna have to run a long cord on the ground or find a way to bury it

[@travisjantzer]

I think you could get away with a long extension cord. Or install an outlet.

[@SuperSickNerd]

How reliable is the liner ? Can you replace liner with clay and rocks instead ?